01Where do the starting prices come from — can I trust them?
Each template ships with national-average line-item prices, then scales them by a regional cost index for the state or province on your account. Treat them as a researched starting point, not a quote. Every price stays editable, and your own edits become your new baseline — so the tool gets more accurate to your business with every job you price.
02I already have a spreadsheet that works. Why switch?
Because the spreadsheet doesn’t know what a quartz countertop costs in your market this month, doesn’t fill in your tax rate, doesn’t turn itself into an invoice, and doesn’t tell you which lines came in over budget. Run the calculator above with your own numbers — if it doesn’t clear the CA$24.99, don’t switch.
03How long until I’m actually using it?
Minutes. There’s no onboarding call, no data import, and no setup fee. Pick your region, open a template, and price a real job. Most people have a client-ready PDF before the trial is an hour old.
04Is there a free plan?
Yes, with no time limit and no card. Free keeps up to three estimates, built from a blank sheet, with your client records and your region’s tax rate worked out for you. You can print them or save a PDF to hand over.
What Free doesn’t do is send: emailing the estimate, the signing link and invoicing are on Starter, along with the nine ready-made templates and unlimited estimates. Plan takeoff is on Pro. If a trial or a subscription ends, the account drops to Free rather than locking — your estimates stay reachable.
05Is the tax rate right for my area?
We fill in the base state or provincial rate automatically. Many places add city or county tax on top, and rules on whether labour is taxable vary, so confirm your local rate — you can override both the rate and the label on any estimate or invoice. This is a calculation tool, not tax advice.
06What happens when the client adds work mid-job?
Draft a change order: it links to the original estimate, prices the extra work (or a credit) line by line with tax, and goes out by email with a Review & sign button (or print for a wet signature). Signing it approves it, and signed changes roll into a running revised contract value — the original estimate plus every signed change — so the final invoice is never a surprise, and “we discussed it on site” never becomes a dispute.
07Can I just record a walkthrough instead of typing an estimate?
Yes — that’s the AI estimator. Press record and talk through the job; Estiquik writes it down and drafts the rooms, line items and quantities, with what it assumed, what’s excluded, and what to ask the homeowner. Add photos and measurements if you have them. Every line comes back with the price blank for you to fill — it removes the blank page, it doesn’t price the job or send it to anyone. It’s on Pro and up, with a monthly allowance.
08Can it measure quantities off my drawings?
Yes — that’s the takeoff, on Pro and Crew. Attach a PDF plan, set the scale by clicking a dimension you trust (or take the one the sheet states), then trace areas for flooring and ceilings, runs for walls and trim, and click the fixtures to count them.
Give a wall run a height and it becomes square feet of drywall; set it to one side and it’s the insulation; leave the height off and it’s the baseboard — measured once. Add a depth to an area and it’s concrete in cubic yards. Waste and pack sizes turn the measured figure into what you’d actually order, and every item lands on the estimate with the quantity filled in and the price left blank.
On a drawing with text tags, one click counts every receptacle, alarm or door on the sheet and names the item from the drawing’s own legend. Scanned or photographed plans work for measuring, but have no text to read, so those get counted by hand.
09Am I too small — or too big — for this?
Neither. Estiquik works the same whether you’re a solo renovator pricing one bathroom or a company quoting whole-house builds, and you can register as a business or an individual. There’s no per-user pricing to punish you for growing.
10What happens to my data if I cancel?
You keep it. Estimates export to JSON or CSV at any time — take a backup before you cancel and nothing is stranded. We’d rather you leave clean than feel trapped.
11Does it work outside the US and Canada?
The regional pricing and tax data covers the United States and Canada today. You can still use every template anywhere by entering your own prices and tax rate manually — you just won’t get the automatic regional scaling.
12Does it sync with QuickBooks?
Yes, on Pro and Crew. Connect your QuickBooks Online company from Integrations and your clients, invoices, and payments flow across automatically as you save them — no re-entry, no month-end reconciliation scramble.
13Can my clients pay invoices by card?
Yes. Connect your own Stripe account once (Integrations → Stripe payments), then any invoice can carry a card payment link — or go out as an email with a Pay button on it. The money settles to your Stripe account directly; Estiquik adds nothing on top of Stripe’s standard processing fee, and the payment records itself on the invoice the moment your client pays.
14Will it chase unpaid invoices and quiet estimates for me?
Yes, on Pro and Crew, by email and in your business name with replies to you. An emailed estimate that isn’t approved after three days gets one follow-up with the sign button still on it. An emailed invoice that passes its due date with a balance gets a reminder the next day and one more a week later, each carrying a fresh pay-by-card link when Stripe is connected. Clients of scheduled jobs hear from you the evening before. Every email has a “stop reminders” link, you can switch each kind off on the Account page or per client, and nothing ever goes to a client whose estimate was approved or whose invoice is paid.
15Can something answer my phone when I’m on the tools?
Yes — the AI receptionist. You get a dedicated number and forward your own phone to it, so calls you don’t pick up get answered instead of going to voicemail. It finds out who’s calling and what they need, books a site visit from your real availability, creates the client and the lead, and emails you the summary and the full transcript. It never quotes a price, never promises a date, and never claims to be a person. $29 a month for 100 minutes on any paid plan, $69 for 300, $129 for 650 — and if you run out it stops answering rather than charging you overage.
16Can homeowners book a site visit with me online?
Yes, on Pro and Crew. You get a public link — estiquik.com/book/your-name — for your website, Instagram bio and Google Business Profile. A homeowner picks a time from the hours you set, gives the address and describes the job. It lands on your schedule as a site visit, they’re added to Clients, they get a confirmation and the evening-before reminder, and you get an email with what they wrote. Paste your own calendar’s private iCal address and anything you’re already busy with is never offered.
17Can I track job expenses and receipts?
Yes, on the Pro plan. Photograph receipts on site — they compress on your phone before upload, attach to expenses tied to a client, estimate, or invoice, and carry HST/sales tax as its own reclaimable field. Reports break spending down by category, client, and month, with CSV export for your accountant.
18Can I bill a job in stages — deposit, mid-project, completion?
Yes, on every plan. Add a payment schedule to the estimate (50 / 50, 30 / 40 / 30, or your own stages) and it prints on the estimate so the client agrees to it up front. Each stage becomes its own progress invoice showing the contract value, what was invoiced before, this stage’s share and what’s left — with its own due date, pay link and overdue reminders. Set a holdback and it’s kept back from every stage and billed as a final release when the job is done.
19Can clients sign estimates and contracts electronically?
Yes — estimates on Starter and up, contracts and change orders on Pro. Email the document with a Review & sign button, or copy the signing link and text it. The client reads the exact document you sent, draws or types a signature on their phone, and you’re emailed the moment they do. The signature block — name, email, date and time, IP address and a fingerprint of the document — prints on your copy from then on. Change orders approve themselves when signed. No account or app needed on their side, and you can still print for a wet signature.
20Does Estiquik track leads?
Yes, on every plan. Leads is a simple pipeline — new enquiry, contacted, site visit booked, estimate sent, won or lost — with a follow-up date on each one, the source it came from, and notes. Bookings from your public booking page land in it automatically. One click converts a lead to a client, books the site visit or starts the estimate. Follow-ups are yours to make; Estiquik doesn’t send automated emails to leads.
21Can my whole team work in one account?
Yes, on the Crew plan. Invite up to 10 people by email — each gets their own login into your workspace, working on the same clients, estimates, invoices, and expenses. One flat subscription, no per-user pricing. Billing, payment connections, and invites stay with the account owner.
